The Council of Ministers met today under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic Mr Nicos Anastasiades. The following decisions were taken.
The main purpose of the Bill is:
- To remove barriers to the provision of tourism services by Tourism and Travel Agencies by grouping a licensed Agency with agencies/companies providing complementary or related activities such as travel insurance, foreign exchange, shipping, car rental and transport insurance,
- The simplification of control and licensing procedures for Tourism and Tourist Offices,
- The reduction of administrative burden: (i) extending the validity of the license to operate an Office and a license to practice the profession of tour guide from two years to three years; and (ii) broadening the grounds for revoking the license to operate a Tourism and Travel Office.
- To combat illegality more effectively: (i) provisions are introduced to deal with the offence of operating a Tourism and Travel Agency without a licence; (ii) the imposition of administrative penalties and the collection of administrative fines on offenders of the legislation under consideration are introduced; (iii) provisions are introduced to deal effectively with offences arising from the provision of services by Tourism and Travel Agencies via the internet.
- To simplify the provisions concerning the qualifications required for the Director of the Tourism and Travel Office. The submission of an application by the proposed Director is approved provided that he/she holds a degree from a university or recognized higher school in tourism or has at least 3 years of experience in Tourism Offices.
The Bill will be submitted to the House of Representatives for passage into law.
The Council of Ministers also decided to appoint the following as members of the Board of Registration of Physical Medicine for a period of three years. Dr. Prodromos Kaplanis, Charalambos Giannakaras, Anastasia Sissou, Kostas Michael, Dimitris Kaolis, Rita Dimou and Erato Stylianou-Markidou.
(PM/MB/IC)
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